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Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
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Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
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In Reply to: SoundSmith Carmen (or SS moving iron) vs. AT OC9/II posted by BPoletti on November 21, 2014 at 21:17:28:
Hi
Since vinyl replay is all about system synergy (mainly mechanically), unless someone has exactly the same equipment combination as you and the proposed cartridge in question, you won't have the definitive answer!
However, I can give you a small insight...
You will find many people on the forum find the OC9ML/II to be bright, clinical and uninvolving. I personally don't find that to be the case. You haven't indicated what yours sounds like in your system and why you wish to consider a different cartridge... but mine is very detailed with a realistic 3D soundstage. I would agree with the other opinions that it is very clinical, but to me that is only because it is not voiced to "sound" different and I happen to prefer a clean, neutral presentation. That is only my opinion.
I have a DL160 with the Soundsmith OLC/Ruby retip which is the same tip on the Soundsmith cartridge, so I can at least give you an indication of what to expect even if the DL160 is not in the same class (mainly technically in terms of tracking ability). The OLC tip gives an extremely detailed soundstage with classical and jazz material. I would be tempted to say that the OLC tip has a slight edge over the OC9 with its incisive Zeiss-inspired clarity. However, it is TOTALLY unforgiving of the tiniest error in setup or record cutting errors in VTA (which as you know vary even from side to side on the same disc depending on the stampers). Setting SRA is critical. Small errors are magnified, so it is quite conceivable that you may even be disappointed in the sound unless everything is correct. Vinyl that isn't in pristine condition with a VTA that matches the cartridge won't sound good. I enquired some months back on this forum about the ordinary SS LC stylus vs OLC and the general concensus was that the lower model was more forgiving and those who had the OLC also noted that it was very fussy and unforgiving.
For this reason, I stopped using my DL160 (even after I optimise for each and every record played).
So in summary, yes the OLC is brilliant, but you are more likely to get a more consistent performance from your OC9.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
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- RE: SoundSmith Carmen (or SS moving iron) vs. AT OC9/II - flood2 15:55:40 11/22/14 (0)
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